Foods to Avoid

While you are wearing braces, please avoid eating hard foods, sticky foods and foods high in sugar. Hard foods can break or damage the wires and brackets, and sticky foods can get caught between the wires and brackets and disengage the wire from the brackets. Minimize the amount of sugary foods you eat; the sugar can cause tooth decay and other related problems. If you have a sugary food or drink, brush your teeth immediately afterward.

Examples of Sticky Foods to Avoid:

Gum (sugar-free or regular)

Licorice

Sugar Daddies

Toffee

Tootsie Rolls

Caramels

Starburst

Examples of Hard Foods to Avoid:

Ice

Nuts

Hard taco shells

French bread crust/rolls

Corn on the cob

Apples (unless sliced into 1/4" thick slices)

Bagels

Chips

Jolly Ranchers

Pizza crust

Uncooked carrots (unless shredded)

Minimize Sugary Foods like:

Cake

Ice Cream

Cookies

Pie

Candy

Only Once a Day:

Soda

Sweetened tea

Gatorade

Kool-Aid

Fruit juices

Drinks with sugar

We encourage patients to quit bad habits, such as fingernail biting, pencil and pen chewing and chewing on foreign objects. All of these activities can break or damage your braces.

It's important to regularly check your braces for bent or loose wires and brackets. If you have a loose/broken wire or bracket, please call our office immediately to arrange a repair appointment.